1. The Russian Revolution

2. Warm Up 2/26 Take out the Assignment #25 worksheet from Wednesday
Using your notes, fill in the squares on the “March Revolution” and the “Bolshevik Revolution”
Be prepared to share your descriptions with the class

3. Agenda 2/26: The Russian Revolution
Warm Up
Notes
Lenin’s Reforms
Civil War
Group Work: Stalin and Totalitarianism
Notebook Collection

4. Lenin’s Immediate Reforms
Red Guard defeats Provisional
Government
Bolsheviks take over
Within days, Lenin made 2 major changes:
Nationalized all land (re-distributed to peasants) & factories (control to workers)
Signed Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, ending Russia’s involvement in WWI
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5. Civil War ( )
Russians opposed to radical policies of Bolsheviks formed opposition known as the White Army
To defeat White Army, Lenin instituted “war communism” & the Cheka, arresting & killing all enemies of the revolution
15 million die in the 3-year civil war and famine that followed

6. Lenin & The Soviet Union

7. Lenin’s Vision
Lenin hoped to transform Russia from a backward, feudal society to a modern, industrialized nation
Wanted it Marxist: free of poverty, unemployment, homelessness, illiteracy, & class divisions
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8. Russia’s Reality Faced huge obstacles in making dream reality
Lost 1/2 population to WWI & Civil War
Wages dropped to 1/10 previous levels; inflation
Foreign blockade of goods
Cities became ghost towns
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9. New Economic Policy (NEP)
Lenin’s answer was to “take one step back to go to two steps forward”
Instituted small-scale capitalism
Ex: peasants can sell crops instead of turning them over to government
Later, under Stalin, full-scale communism got under way
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10. From Russia to USSR Instituted equality between men and women
Abolished titles & rank
Gave right to vote to all citizens
Stripped church of its power
To create classless society, Communist Party built schools & medical facilities for all
Re-structured country politically
Created a union of self-governing republics known as the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)
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11. Stalin and Totalitarianism

12. Group Work Goal: Teach your section to the class using Power Point
Steps:
Read your assigned section together and summarize it in your own words
Write 3-5 bullets on the sheet provided
Define any key terms that appear in your section
Turn in your sheet once finished
Each group member must speak during your presentation

13. Stalin Becomes Dictator
Stalin means “man of steel”
Lenin did not trust him; he didn’t think he could handle all the power
In 1922 he was general secretary of the Communist Party; he discreetly placed his followers amongst him
In 1929 Trotsky was exiled and Stalin was ready to be dictator

14. Stalin Builds a Totalitarian State
Totalitarianism – when a government takes total control over every aspect of people’s public and private lives
Ex: state controls business, religion, education, family life
Challenges the fundamentals of democracy
Lenin wanted a worldwide communist revolution, but Stalin focused on Russian development
Other countries followed Russia’s footsteps (China)

15. Stalin Seizes Control of Economy
Stalin made plans to create a better economy and agriculture
Command economy: government makes all economic decisions
The plans had impossibly high goals to increase the output of steel, coal, oil and electricity
Government controlled every aspect of workers’ lives to quicken production

16. Stalin Seizes Control of Economy
In 1928 the government took many farms and combined them to make collective farms
Stalin used terror and violence to force peasants to work on collective farms, improved agriculture
Kulaks were a group of wealthy peasants who resisted collective farms
They were killed or sent to work camps

17. Weapons of Totalitarianism – Police Terror, Propaganda
Stalin killed between 8 – 13 million people that went against the Soviet government
Great Purge: campaign of terror in 1934, when Stalin turned against member of the CP
The state had authority to arrest people that did the most minor things
Propaganda was used to promote Soviet life and communist values
Socialist realism: an artistic style that praised Soveity life and Communist values
Indoctrination = the instruction in the government’s beliefs to change people’s minds

18. Weapons of Totalitarianism – Censorship, Religious Persecution
Outside influences that conflicted with Communist values and beliefs were not tolerated
Art and media were censored by the government
Stalin eliminated all religious beliefs
Religious leaders of all faiths were killed or sent to labor camps

19. Daily Life Under Stalin
Society changed in many ways from the former, traditional society
Women had equal rights and opportunities
High demand for skilled workers led to widespread education
Downside: as servants of a totalitarian state, people would make great sacrifice in exchange for progress